For Nonprofits, the True Value of Human Resources Is Becoming More Apparent

Attention, development directors: Your corporate partners may not have as much scratch to donate these days as in more robust years past, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help you. The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating piece on the increasing use of another type of resource — the human kind — by for-profit firms to give back:

Corporate volunteerism often used to mean cleaning up public parks or building homes for the needy. Today, a growing number of companies are lending out skilled employees to nonprofits and struggling small businesses around the world to provide accounting, marketing and other professional services. Under these programs, assignments tend to tap into participants’ skills and career goals.

To be sure, law firms of all sizes have a long tradition of providing pro bono work to nonprofits and individuals. But in recent years, more employers have begun offering similar arrangements for employees to do volunteer work on company time — and the company dime — even if it means employees miss weeks or months of work.

As Sarah E. Needleman’s story points out, while the benefits of these arrangements to nonprofits are obvious, the companies themselves also win. The corporate volunteers "gain a broader perspective on business when they do their jobs in different settings," and the employees the firms seek to recruit — the so-called millenials — have a strong social-activity bent. So if the Acme Widget Co. turns down your grant propsal, call ‘em back up and see if they have an accountant to spare. | 501(c)

Tags: corporate volunteerism